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The Fantasticks is an off-Broadway musical, loosely based off Les Romanesques, that first premiered May 3rd, 1960 and is currently the world's longest running musical production, originally running for 42 years. Its revival, in the Jerry Orbach Theatre (named for the original performer of El Gallo), began on August 23, 2006 and ended June 4, 2017. In the lobby, there was a count of how many shows it had in New York City — over 21,500.

It's a very popular choice for high schools and small theaters, with its cast of eight, minimal set and costumes, and longtime popularity. Furthermore, the casting frequently crosses the gender line: any roles except Matt, Luisa, and El Gallo can be played by either men or women.

The show begins with thenarratorEl Gallo (pronounced GUY-o) introducing the audience to the characters and the story. A girl named Luisa, who's a bit... out there and thinks she's a princess. She wears a necklace that belonged to her mother and considers it the most precious thing in the world to her. A boy named Matt, who is in love with Luisa and she loves him. The two are separated by a wall (who is actually played by a person) built by their fathers. They think they're Star-Crossed Lovers, but it's truly a plot by their fathers, who are actually very good friends, to have them fall in love. According to them, if you tell a kid no - they'll do it for sure!

During a secret meeting between Matt and Luisa, Luisa reveals she had a vision of a man coming to kidnap her and Matt fighting him off. Not long after, the fathers meet and discuss how to end their false feud. Matt's father proposes that they hire a professional to do the job. In enters El Gallo, who processed to explain all the various set-ups he can create for the kidnapping. After agreeing on a "first class" kidnapping, El Gallo sets off to find actors to help. Soon he finds Henry (an old Shakespearean actor) and Mortimer (who is really good at death scenes). Both are far past their prime, but he allows them to join anyhow.

Not long after, Matt and Luisa meet again in the forest. El Gallo and the actors appear to kidnap Luisa, but are easily "thwarted" by Matt. Thus the faux-feud ends and everyone lives Happily Ever After... Or do they?

As act two opens, everyone is beginning to realize that Happily Ever After isn't all it's cracked up to be. With the wall torn down, everyone is slowly getting on each other's nerves. A month later, Matt has run away to see the world, leaving Luisa behind and heartbroken, and the fathers have rebuilt the wall. Now El Gallo swoops in and Luisa pleads for him to take her to see the world. He promises he will, and tells her to pack, under the condition that she leave her beloved necklace with him as a promise she will return. As she leaves, Matt returns, bloodied and beaten, and fully aware the world isn't all adventure and fun as he hoped. El Gallo turns to leave with Luisa's necklace, but Matt makes an attempt to stop him. He merely brushes him off and disappears. Luisa comes back to find Matt and comforts him as it begins to snow and they begin to remember their feelings for each other once more.

Certain productions, including the film adaptation, will instead perform a similar alternative song in its place, wherein they merely use the word "Abduction". This is generally the preferred version for younger audiences and school performances for obvious reasons.

It has been known for some productions to use "It Depends On What You Pay" and alter the word "rape" to the similar-sounding "raid". Either way, any production that does use "rape" at all in its script generally goes out of its way to make sure that the audience knows they don't mean that kind of rape.

Curb-Stomp Battle: After beating El Gallo in a staged battle, Matt thinks he's a master fencer. Later, when El Gallo hasn't been paid to lose, he quickly proves that this is not the case.

Curtain Call: In the film adaptation, the cast comes on for a curtain call after it's over. They're done in order of credit, so the first-credited people (Joel Grey and Barnard Hughes) come on first, even though they don't have the lead parts.

Dark Reprise: The introduction to "I Can See It" which El Gallo sings to Matt before he goes down the road to see the world is reprised when El Gallo is luring Luisa down that same path, only now Matt sings of despair and El Gallo sings of marvels.

Genre Savvy: The parents' ploy to get Matt and Luisa to fall in love is based around the fact that children always do what their parents forbid them to do.

Hammerspace Hideaway: Henry and Mortimer generally appear out of the box that holds the props Justified: At one point (before they appear) El Gallo says that everything else the show needs is in the box. Implied to be props until the "need" for a couple of actors happens.

In the film version, Mortimer is played by Teller of Penn & Teller fame, and true-to-form has no intelligible lines (though he does speak in some of the deleted scenes).

Three Chords and the Truth: In a good way. The music is simple, the lyrics and ideas are sincere, and it can be performed by a cast on any level of talent, pretty much. (With one possible exception: Luisa's role is very difficult to sing, with lots of coloratura soprano sections.) It can also be adapted to an ensemble of any size, often one as small as two (the original production used only a piano and a harp).

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